7160: Oh Brother.

From The Los Angeles Times…

Pasadena park caught between Jackie and Mack Robinson
The future site of a $24-million sports complex is currently named for both brothers. Some think focusing solely on the legendary ballplayer would aid fundraising, but not everyone is on board.

By Corina Knoll

In the midday sun, it will be something magnificent. The emerald turf will glimmer; the football field will seem to stretch for miles; the twin basketball courts will beckon to children set free from school.

At dusk, however, is when the park will truly shine. That’s when a switch will be flipped and two first-class baseball diamonds will be bathed in light—a fitting tribute to a Pasadena boy who became a legend.

This is Jackie Robinson’s old neighborhood, and this seven-acre park a decade in the making is envisioned to be the athlete’s ultimate memorial: a $24-million sports complex on Fair Oaks Avenue.

But now a debate over the name of the park has awakened the city’s delicate relationship with the memory of a man who became the first black baseball player in the major leagues and his older brother, an Olympian who gained only modest fame. While Matthew “Mack” Robinson put down roots and became a fixture in Pasadena, Jackie became estranged from his hometown and returned only for brief family visits.

Civic leaders have always sought to honor both brothers equally. When Pasadena City College, which both brothers attended, renovated its stadium in 1999, it was dedicated as Robinson Stadium. Bronze busts of the brothers across from City Hall are known as the Robinson Memorial. And less than a mile from the Jackie Robinson Community Center on Fair Oaks is the Mack Robinson U.S. Post Office.

So it has stirred deep feelings that some community leaders have suggested erasing the name Robinson Park and renaming the upgraded sports complex Jackie Robinson Park.

Lucrative name

The thought among some is that with fundraising for the sports park still $13 million shy of the goal and plans for replacing the recreation building and swimming pool on hold, naming the complex for one of America’s most cherished athletes could be lucrative.

“Jackie’s name is known world round, even in Asia,” said Greg Mosley, chairman of the park’s Master Plan Committee. “We don’t have the intention to leave out Mack; it’s just that Jackie was in the forefront.”

A hybrid moniker such as Jackie and Mack Robinson Park would still fail to do the trick, Mosley said. “There’s so much explaining you have to do with Mack’s name.”

Read the full story here.